travisduncan
Gator Fan
Mike Pouncey went 15th overall to the Miami Dolphins and Marcus Gilbert was selected in the second-round with the 63rd pick by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Friday.
Pouncey told ESPN (clip above) that his only meeting with Miami was a 15-minute window during the NFL Draft combine. Obviously Tony Sparano and Jeff Ireland saw enough to know Pouncey was their guy. The Dolphins went through two quarterback's last season because of injury, and needed the help upfront. Some Dolphins fans are questioning why the franchise did not select a QB with the pick, even though the four QB's had already gone by 15.
Meanwhile, Gilbert becomes the third Gator o-linemen to be drafted by the Steelers in recent years, joining Maurkice Pouncey and Max Starks.
Gilbert will compete for a guard spot on the Steelers offensive line.
Steelers offensive line coach Sean Kugler said "The added bonus is that he and Maurkice are best buds. There's chemistry there, and chemistry is a big thing in the offensive line."
Guard Maurice Hurt was selected in the seventh-round by the Washington Redskins.
Safety Ahmad Black slipped to the fifth-round where he was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Black will have an opportunity to play for the team he grew up rooting for. He admits he thought he would be selected sooner.
"I thought I'd be picked a little bit earlier," he said Saturday. "A few things set me back a little bit, I guess the measurables"
"A lot of people have asked me where I wanted to go, and Tampa was always my first pick. That's my favorite team. I didn't really want to say I just want Tampa because there was always a chance I would go somewhere else."
"I grew up a Buccaneer fan. I came out the womb Buccaneers. My aunt (Sabrina Valdez-Collins) cheered for the Bucs for about 10 years and now still works with the cheerleaders."
Buccaneers general manger Mark Dominik said of Black, "He's always produced. He's always been able to battle above some of the limitations that people have always thought he had."
Meanwhile, safety Will Hill will have to sign on as a free-agent or a camp invite to make it onto an NFL team as he went undrafted.
-Other draft notes:
The Gators have had 43 players selected in the first-round all time.
This was the fifth-straight year that UF has had a first-round selection, the longest active streak of any school in the nation.
The SEC had 10 draft picks in the first round, the most of any conference.
Florida was one of two schools to have three offensive linemen taken in this year’s draft.
It is the sixth time in school history that UF has had three offensive linemen drafted in the same year (also in 1954, ’57, ’63, ’85 and ’92).
The Gators are in contention for yet another junior out of Stone Mountain High School in Stephenson, Ga.
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Linebacker Raphael Kirby is set to make a verbal commitment soon and the Gators are thought to be the favorite at this point. He has offers from Alabama, Auburn, Georgia, Florida State, Southern Cal and LSU among others.
If Kirby commits to UF he would join Stone Mountain teammates RB Mike Davis and DT JaFar Mann in the Class of 2012.
-Over the weekend, AD Jeremy Foley spoke with a Florida senator about de-regulation of sports agents in the state. He expressed concerns to Senate Budget Chairman J.D. Alexander that de-regulation could create problems for universities in the state as they attempt to keep its student-athletes from receiving benefits from agents while they still have eligibility with the NCAA.
After Foley's call, the legislature decided against de-regulated sports agents in the state, according the Orlando Sentinel.
Finally here is a clip of Mike Pouncey on ESPN's Sports Science. Pouncey's blocking ability while still being accurate on shotgun snaps is tested.
